The invention disclosed and claimed herein relates generally to the field of apparel, and, specifically, to the field of athletic shoes.
It has long been recognized by those skilled in the art that an athlete's ability to run effectively is dependent upon the use by the athlete of several techniques, among which are keeping his head and shoulders oriented upright, elevating his knees during the stride, and coordinating his arm and leg motions. Perhaps the most important technique applied by a runner in order to increase his running skill is that of running "on his toes", by which term is meant that the runner maintains his heels out of contact with the ground and supports each stride on that portion of his foot from the tips of his toes to a point just to the rear of the ball of his foot. By using such a technique during training, the runner vastly increases the strain on all his leg muscles in general and in particular on the muscles of the calf. By training in such a manner the rate of calf muscle development is increased. In addition, by so doing, the runner increases his pace and therefore his speed, due in part to the fact that, in running "on his toes" the runner has a tendancy to lean forward and assume a position in which he must run to keep from falling forward and that he uses half the surface area of the sole as opposed to using all of the surface area as he would tend to do with conventional shoes. By so increasing his pace during training, the runner will tend to develop better lung capacity more rapidly.
Naturally, the degree to which the runner pitches his body forward by running on his toes will vary with the type of race to be run. For example, sprinters will pitch their weight precariously forward while intermediate distance runners will have a tendancy to run in a more upright posture, and runners specializing in long distance events such as the 10,000 meter or the marathon will tend to run in an almost erect posture. Naturally, the further forward the runner shifts his weight, the farther his heel will be from the ground and the higher the runner will be "on his toes". Nevertheless, all runners will tend to run "on their toes" to at least a minimum extent. It is known that among land animals, the higher the arch of the foot, the swifter the animal will be.
For the very reason that running "on one's toes" is beneficial to a runner's competitive development, it is also contrary to his natural tendancy which is to initially contact the ground with the heel and, throughout the stride, shift the weight forward from the heel to the ball of the foot until the foot loses contact with the ground during the forward stride. It strengthens the thigh muscles on all sides and the calf muscles with a tendancy to develope them elongated as a result of the body posture used. Elongated muscles are most important for better reflex and more coordination. The shoe takes much stress off the ankles due to the fact that the weight is shifted to the upper leg muscles.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an athletic shoe which may be used to train runners to run on their toes.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an athletic shoe which may be used by trained runners during actual competition in order to aid in maintaining the "on the toes" posture.